Crimson Bolt
by Fuzzabopalipsah
Summary: Boruto and his teammates embark on their first B-rank mission. They are determined to complete this mission and show there true worth as shinobi. But upon arriving at their destination they quickly begin to realize that this mission is going to be way harder than what they had expected, and it is going to take all of their shinobi knowledge to make it out of this one alive
1. Chapter 1

The shards of blood red crystal started to rain down upon the small village of yoku. They lit up the black night sky and turned it a bloody crimson. The screams that came from the village were utterly gut wrenching. Nobody in the village could be spared from the carnage that was occurring. The enemy had won. The ninjas from the hidden leaf had lost. They had to watch from a outcrop in the mountainside. They had to watch as the people that they had sworn to protect were destroyed by the flaming molten shards that rained down on them. This was supposed to be an easy B rank mission at best. They were only supposed to be there for less than a week. But this B rank mission had quickly turned into an A rank maybe even an S rank, and the ninja's soon found themselves to be overwhelmed. Striking blue eyes stared at the scene. He knew that this image of pure bloody carnage was going to be burned in his brain for the rest of his life. He knew that he could never forgive himself. This was his fault. And now he had to fix it. He pulled a few kunai out of his pocket and then jumped from the cliff, soaring into the blood bath that lay beneath him, not even listening to his team mates as they shouted for him to stop. He had to fix this, he needed to fix this. He wasn't going to lose so easily.

Three weeks ago

Boruto Uzumaki groggily got up from his bed, and slowly went to his closet to put on his classic outfit, his white v-neck t shirt, and his black pants that possessed a red trim at the bottom. His favorite colour was red. It had always been his favorite, ever since he was a little kid and that is why he decided to switch out his black coat for a cool sleek red one, just so that the enemies could always know who they were dealing with. He had started to earn a nickname for himself, because of this jacket. The Crimson Bolt is what they liked to call him. It was a fitting name he felt, but he wished that it could be just a little flashier. He wished that it sounded just as cool as his grandfather's nickname the yellow flash. But the the crimson bolt would have to do for now.

After getting dressed he left his quaint little room and headed downstairs and into the kitchen. There standing next to the kitchen table was his mother hinata. She was slowly placing a plate of food down on the table, food that he assumed she had prepared for him.

"Mom you didn't have to get up so early and make me breakfast, I could have done that myself," Bolt said as he strode over to the table. Hinata looked up and stared at him with her pale violet eyes. Then she ever so sweetly gave him a smile and said "Honey I know that you have an important mission today in fact it is your very first B rank mission and I wanted to prepare you a special meal to commemorate this day, plus I get the feeling your definition of breakfast is a big fat unhealthy burger, I swear you get your unhealthy eating habits from your father."

Boruto rolled his eyes and then sat down in his chair and thanked his mother for the special meal that she had prepared for him. He blessed his meal and then began to eat, and as he ate his thoughts overtook him. Mom was right today was a special day, one that he had been waiting for since he had become a chunin. This was his first ever B rank mission and he was not going to screw it up. He wanted to show to his dad that he was strong enough to take on anything that this shinobi world could throw at him. He wanted to show him that he possessed the will and power of a true shinobi. And deep down he just wanted his dad to acknowledge him. To look at him and see how far he had come. Boruto felt his chopsticks hit an empty bowl and he realized that he had completed his meal without even knowing it.

"Are you okay," Hinata asked him from her place at the sink. She had a worried look on her face.

Boruto put a smile on his face, and reassured his mother that everything was fine, and then walked over and deposited his empty dish into the sink. Then he kissed his mother on the cheek and went to the door. He would have said goodbye to himawari but he didn't want to wake her. Hinata came to meet him at the door just as he was about to leave and wished him good luck on his mission.

"Thanks mom, tell himawari goodbye for me, and that when I come back I'll have a special present for her from the place that I visited. See Ya." Then he quickly left and headed for the front gate.

There he met up with his team. Of course Sarada was there already, and had to point out that she had already been waiting for a good ten minutes. "Oh come on sarada we weren't supposed to be here until 7:30 and its," he quickly looked down at his watch and then back up at her, "7:23!"

Sarada rolled her eyes and sighed,then replied, "It's always best to show up early, you know the saying the early bird catches the worm."

Boruto's eye twitched as he looked at sarada like she was a crazy nuthead. "You are crazier than I thought," he whispered to himself.

"What was that" she said with malice in her voice.

Boruto felt shivers roll up his spine as he quickly looked at the ground, and squeaked out "Nothing."

Boruto then felt a shift in the air, and all of sudden mitsuki was standing next to him. Boruto fell back, scared out of his mind. "Mitsuki you have got to stop doing that!"

Mitsuki looked at him from the corner of his eye, and then smirked "Now why would I do that when it is so much fun."

Boruto glared at him as he picked himself up from the ground then started to dust himself off. Then he sheepishly walked over to sarada and stood next to her since he couldn't trust Mitsuki at the moment. They then stood at the gate for another good ten minutes before konohamaru decided to show up.

He landed in front of them without even making a sound. He was wearing his classic jonin outfit, including his classic blue scarf which he never seemed to part from. He looked at his group as he slowly stood up from his landing position. He could tell from the looks on their faces, that they were ready to start off on their journey and complete their first B rank mission. He could feel the waves of determination just rippling off the three of them. This was a mission that could make or break their future as ninja and they knew it. They knew that they had to succeed Failure was out of the question, especially since they all had such lofty goals to accomplish. Well I mean sarada and boruto did, Mitsuki never really explained what his goal was but konohamaru had a feeling that he had one, and that it was just as lofty as his other pupils.

"It seems that you guys are ready to embark on your next mission," Konohamaru stated.

"Ummmmmm obviously sensei, could we leave already we are wasting our time just standing here," boruto said stating the obvious.

"Fine fine, did all of you guys read up on your mission logs." they all nodded at him. "Alrighty then let's get this show on the road. Now this is all your first B class mission, so it is extremely important that you listen to all of my directions. If there is even one slip up, it could mean the failure of the mission and possibly even injury. Do you all understand" They all looked at him with steely eyes and then again nodded.

"Don't worry konohamaru sensei, we promise that we will follow your every command," Boruto said in a serious tone, that surprised everyone. Sarada nearly fell over from the shock of his words. "What! I can be serious sometimes to."

"Yeah sure, that is like saying cho-cho doesn't like to eat chips." Sarada said with sarcasm in her voice, as mitsuki chuckled from her comment.

"Okay okay, stop everyone let's not get into a fight before the mission gets started" konohamaru said sheepishly as he placed his hand behind his head, "Boruto, as weird as it is, I'm glad you are taking this mission seriously… you actually might be maturing for once… anyways let's set off towards yoku village. It's a full day's journey from here and I want to make it there before night hits."

Boruto, Sarada and Mitsuki then set off on their journey with konohamaru leading the way. As they began to travel Boruto started to run over the details of the mission log in his head. The mission log had said that they were to go and investigate the disappearances of children in the village of yoku, which was located near the outskirts of the land of fire. Many of the villagers believed that a evil spirit from the volcano which overlooked their village was stealing away their children at night, and they had come to their village seeking help. It seemed like a mission that could be classed as a C-rank, but due to the mysterious nature surrounding the disappearances the village had decided to class it as a B-rank. Their job was of course to go in and investigate the disappearances, and try to figure out who was behind them, and then defeat them. It seemed straightforward but Boruto had a feeling that this mission was going to be harder than it looked and that is why he was taking it so seriously, and by the looks on the others faces they felt the same way.

They made it to the village just as night was falling. It truly was a very quaint little village with a great view. The village had a population of about 1000 people and it was nestled in the valley right underneath the famed volcano. The houses or should I say huts were made from the materials that the villagers found out in the wilderness that surrounded the village. You could tell that it was a village thats survival depended upon the raw resources that they could find out in the valley. The volcano that was situated above them was unique. It was coloured a crimson as if it had been stained by blood. Now Boruto understood why they called it "Blood Mountain." It was both beautiful and creepy. Boruto didn't know what to think of it, but that didn't matter because his thoughts were interrupted as a raspy voice called out to them.

"You made it" bellowed an old man at the entrance, "I'm so glad you arrived… another incident has occurred, but this time it wasn't a kidnapping, but rather an adult was killed and something truly interesting was left behind on the body " he said in a serious tone. " You should hurry up before the trail ends up going cold."

When they showed up to the scene Boruto knew that this mission was more that what he had prepared for. This was something that no one had expected.


	2. Chapter 2

Boruto couldn't believe what he was laying his eyes upon. The body that lay in front of them looked like a wrinkled up raisin. It looked like the person had been sucked dry of all its moisture. It reminded him of when the villagers were getting their chakra sucked out by the sumire's summoned creature but ten times worse. It looked like they had been completely sucked dry.

Konohamaru walked forward and knelt next to the body and started to investigate it. He pulled out a bunch of needles and tried to take a blood sample, but no blood seemed to enter the syringe. "Thats weird," konohamaru said with a scowl. "It's almost as if the body has had its blood completely taken from it, same with its chakra."

Boruto`s suspicions were then confirmed for him. He was still surprised though that such a thing was possible. "But how did they do it sensei. I mean it looks like the body has been completely untouched. How did they end up extracting it."

"Yeah sensei, how is such a thing even possible," sarada said agreeing with boruto. That is when mitsuki spoke up. "Supposedly there is a story that there once existed a clan that could suck an opponent's blood and chakra out of their body using a secret ninjutsu, and use it as their own. But I only thought that was a story."

"That sounds insane that story just can't be true," boruto said warily.

Konohamaru sighed and then stood up. There didn't seem to be any other harm to the body that he could notice. No small pin pricks were found on the body that could explain how the blood had been drained from the corpse. So the theory that an expert ninja had used ninja tools to drain the blood from the body was ruled out. To him that story that Mitsuki told was starting to sound more plausible.

Konohamaru turned to the village leader and finally got a good look at him. He looked like he was probably in his late 50's early 60's and possessed tanned skin probably from being outside all the time. He wasn't wearing very much clothing. Just an orange tunic that went to his knees, and some green pants that ended a little short. And both of those pieces of clothing looked like they had been worn a lot. From one look would have thought this man was the village commoner, but when konohamaru looked up into the man's eyes he realized he was talking to a man of extreme wisdom. There was something behind those eyes that just spoke lengths. He could tell that this man had experienced a lot throughout his life. "Is this the first time that this has happened" he asked. At this question the man gave a hearty laugh and then steadied his gaze on konohamaru.

"No, if I was being honest this is not the first time that this has happened," the man said in his raspy voice.

His boldness surprised Konohamaru. "I wish you would have told us this information before telling us to come on this mission. Honestly I don't know if my team is ready for a mission this serious."

At this boruto, sarada and mitsuki's heads shot up. What was konohamaru saying, was the thought that went through all their heads. They were ready for this. They knew that they couldn't turn around now. "Konohamaru sensei we are ready for this," they all said in unison. Konohamaru was surprised by this unanimous response. He didn't expect them to be so vocal so quick. He was almost left speechless.

"But… guys this is looking more serious than what I thought. When we originally embarked on this mission it was supposed to be a simple mission where we figured out who the enemy was and defeated them. But I had thought that the enemy wasn't going to be this strong." konohamaru said hoping and praying that they would listen to his voice of reason.

Unfortunately for him that wasn't going to happen. "Konohamaru sensei we have been preparing for a mission like this for months. All of the ninja training that we have done has been devoted to us going on a mission just like this. I can tell you right now that we, all of us, are ready to take this on. We can't go back now. What would that say about us as shinobi. No we can't go back. We have to finish this," Boruto said as he looked at konohamaru with eyes that looked ever so familiar. Oh wait right, those serious eyes that he saw reminded him of Naruto. They were the same eyes that naruto wore every time that he swore he was gonna become hokage.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaa man I'm starting to understand why kakashi always looked tired after coming back from his missions. Fine we will continue the mission as planned."

"Yes!" they all shouted.

"I`m so glad that you have come to that decision" said the village leader. "Now I don't mean to be hasty, but can we get back on track. I have villagers that are worried about what has been going on."

"Yes of course. So you said that this has occurred before," Konohamaru asked.

"Yes in fact it has been happening for the past two months. We have probably lost about ten villagers to this."

"And what about the children that have gone missing, was that part true?" He asked.

"Unfortunately yes that is true as well. The kidnappings started to occur just as the murders started to happen. It has gotten so bad that the villagers are starting to believe the old wives tale that has been told throughout the village for many years."

The whole team looked at him wondering if maybe this old wives tale could give them a hint of what was going on here in this village. "And what is this old wives tale." Boruto asked waiting for the old man's response.

The old man sighed and looked at all four of the ninja with a serious gaze, "The tale, or should I say legend, goes as such. It starts off saying that our village many centuries ago, once possessed ninja that had incredible skill. Skill that rivaled that of even the senju and uchiha clan. It was said that these ninja could drain their enemies of their powers and use them as their own," At this boruto looked at mitsuki with shocked eyes as this story was matching the one that he had just told. The old man continued "Legend says that these ninja lived up on Blood mountain, the very volcano that sits above us. Some even speculate that the mountain turned that bloody crimson colour because of their ninjutsu powers. But anyways legend says that these ninja were all exterminated a century ago, since they were seen as a major threat." He sighed then spoke again, "None of us believed that this legend was true… but after our people started getting murdered, in this ever mysterious way we started to wonder if maybe this legend might have had a shred of truth to it."

All four of the ninja looked at each other and collectively agreed that this legend was the best lead that they could go upon at the moment but before they left the house, the village leader stopped them and pointed to something on the ground. There on the ground, was what appeared to be little pieces of blood red glass. "These little pieces of glass are always found at all of the crime scenes."

Boruto bent down and picked it up to look at it closer. And as he picked it up he started to feel his energy dwindle. He dropped it quickly weary of the power that this tiny crystal had.

"Boruto, are you okay," Sarada asked with worry in her voice.

"Yeah…. but that crystal…. I don't know, when I touched it, it felt like my energy was being drained from my body."

Konohamaru bent down and picked it up with some tweezers, so as not to touch it. After looking at it for a few seconds, he decided to stand back up and look at the village elder, "is there anywhere in this surrounding area that you guys have seen red crystal such as this."

The old man chuckled again and then looked at konohamaru, "I'll give you one guess as to where you think it could be."

Konohamaru sighed and then looked up at Blood Mountain, than back at the village leader, he then pointed at the mountain, and said "Let me guess, you have seen it up on blood mountain."

"Indeed we have," the man responded back.

"Hahhhhhhh as soon as I saw that mountain I had a feeling that it was going to play an important role in the success or failure of our mission." He said to mainly just himself, then he turned to his team and got serious, "Okay so tomorrow as soon as the sun comes up we are going to start our trek up that mountain to try and gain any information on what these crystals can really do, as well as try to gain any information if possible on what kind of enemy we are dealing with. But under no means necessary are you to engage with the enemy if you find them. You are only to relay any information back to the rest of the squad if you have found them nothing else. Understood."

"Yes konohamaru sensei," all three of them replied in unison. "Okay good then we are going to go set up camp on the outskirts of the village."

That's when the village leader spoke up "that is not necessary you can stay in my house tonight. My grandchildren have been so excited to meet you guys. They have never met real ninja before," he spoke with a smile, "Come on follow me" he said shaking his hand towards them.

As they followed him through the village they saw that many of the villagers looked at them with both excitement but also with fear. "Sensei why are they looking at us like that." Boruto asked.

Konohamaru looked at his students then looked up at the sky, "Sometimes when a village is going through hard times, they find it hard to trust people from the outside. They don't want any of their problems to be made worse than they already are."

"But we would never do that," Boruto said.

"I know, but they don't know that."

And right as konohamaru said that they reached the hut of the village elder. It was a little bit larger than the rest of the homes in the village. The home's frame was made from wood planks and the roof of the house was made of leaf palms. To boruto it seemed like he was being sent back to the stone age, he couldn't fathom how this could be called a home. But as he walked into the house he was completely blown away. The inside of the house was filled with such warmth from the fire that was burning in the middle. And the floor of the room felt so soft, probably because the flooring was made from the wool of the sheep that these people farmed. And even though the house looked small on the outside, there was actually three rooms in the whole house and each room possessed a chest where you could store your stuff, and a place where you could place your cot. It was actually quite quaint.

And the people living in this home looked so happy. The wife of the village leader had been so kind to them same with his grandchildren. They were so excited to see the ninja, and they asked them a million questions. Like how they could clone themselves or make themselves disappear. They were completely fascinated by it all. Boruto couldn't fathom that people were kidnapping the sweet children of this village. How could people do such an evil thing. It was unfathomable. Yet it was still occurring. It made him sick to his stomach. Before boruto went to bed that night, he swore that he was going to find the enemy and defeat them. This could not continue. And with that last thought in his brain boruto shut his eyes and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Boruto woke to the sound of a crash and bang and then a scream. He quickly shot out of bed and rushed out into the hallway of the house to see a shinobi standing over the body of the village leader. The shinobi was wearing black pants and a red tunic, and his face was completely covered by a black mask. The ninja turned quickly and started to weave hand seals, quicker than Boruto could follow. "Fire style fire ball jutsu," the ninja yelled. And right as the ninja said that mitsuki who was standing behind Boruto fired his own jutsu. "Water style raging waves." Both of the jutsu's cancelled each other out, and as the air settled Boruto pulled three shuriken and then through them at the enemy, but the enemy quickly dodged them and leapt out of the window on his left. Boruto quickly followed after him, and out into the street. As he continued his pursuit he summoned three shadow clones and told them to disperse across town. All of a sudden the ninja stopped in his tracks and then turned to Boruto and through three shuriken his way. And as he dodged them he noticed that each of the shuriken were glowing bright red.

"What the Boruto" said to himself as he landed on the ground and rushed towards the ninja, and raised his right fist aiming it for the ninja's face. The man quickly dodged to the left, but as he did Boruto aimed a kick right towards the middle of the man's chest. But just as it almost made contact the man grabbed his leg with one arm and then with the other hit Boruto in the middle of his chest.

Boruto fell to the ground, and tried to catch his breath. This is when the ninja saw his chance and started running towards Boruto weaving hand signs at the same time, seemingly preparing to launch a jutsu at him. But just as he was about to reach him, someone hit him in the side of the face with a punch infused with chakra. The punch was so strong that it sent him careening into one of the trees standing outside one of the houses. As he hit the tree you could hear an audible crack. His body then fell to the ground, and he lay still. Sarada landed next to Boruto and offered him his hand, but a she was about to take it he saw something red fly through the air and towards Sarada. He pushed her out of the way and the glowing red kunai whizzed past his ear and planted itself in the ground. Boruto quickly stood up and searched the trees. There must be another shinobi somewhere in the village. And just as he thought that more kunai shot at both him and Sarada from a nearby tree. All of them glowed red just like the others. He had a feeling that if they hit him something bad was going to occur. He pulled another kunai from his pouch and used them deflect the other incoming kunai, and then he went and started to run towards the tree that the kunai had been thrown from. But just as he was about to reach that tree he heard the ground crack behind him.

He turned around and saw that Sarada was fighting against the ninja that she had punched into the tree. They both traded quick blows with each other. Neither of them was giving each other any room to take the lead in this fight. Sarada weaved hand signs "Fire style, Phoenix flower jutsu." She said as fire balls started to fly towards the enemy ninja. The ninja dodged all of the incoming projectiles and then started to run towards Sarada while throwing three kunai , Sarada quickly dodged all of them. And then ran towards the ninja but Boruto noticed quickly that one of the kunai wasn't what it seemed and soon the kunai disappeared in a puff of smoke and the enemy ninja appeared and just as that happened the ninja that Sarada was facing turned into a piece of wood. And soon the ninja was weaving hand seals and as he wove them his hands started to glow red. Boruto noticed that Sarada wasn't going to be able to avoid the enemies ninjutsu in time and jumped in front of Sarada. "Blood reaper jutsu", the ninja yelled before he fired his jutsu. Boruto quickly weaved some hand signs of his own "water style water formation wall". Quickly a wall of water was erected between him and the incoming jutsu. As the two jutsu's collided with each other. Boruto noticed that his water jutsu seemed to be absorbed by the other jutsu. He couldn't believe what was happening before his eyes. He stood there in complete shock. And as the two jutsu's disappeared the enemy ninja was suddenly right in front of Boruto, and Boruto soon felt a kunai cut through the cheek on his face. And as the kunai cut through his skin he felt some of his energy drain away. What is going on he thought to himself as he jumped backwards to avoid the incoming onslaught from the other ninja.

From the corner of his eye he saw Sarada jump into the air and prepare to shower the ninja with a flurry of her crazy powerful punches. But before she could reach him she fell to the ground clutching her shoulder, where a kunai had been thrown. This one too was glowing red. As Boruto watched he slowly noticed that Sarada started to get paler by the second.

"Sarada pull that out of your shoulder quickly!" he exclaimed, "It'll suck your chakra dry!"

But she couldn't hear him as she felt her chakra slowly get drained from her body. Boruto quickly felt his face heat up as he felt infuriated. He quickly felt a new strength enter his body. He quickly blocked the punch that was coming towards him and then slammed his fist into the ninjas gut. Then he quickly formed some hand seals "water style water dragon." The water dragon quickly shot towards the ninja and engulfed him in his water jaws. As the ninja was occupied Boruto quickly ran to sarada's side and pulled the kunai out of her shoulder.

"Are you okay," he asked. She groggily looked up at him and nodded her head.

"Good you have to go get konohamaru sensei and tell him to come help."

"But Boruto will you be okay staying behind and fighting these guys." Sarada asked with worry in her voice.

Boruto smiled warmly at her, "Yeah I'll definitely be fine. Now go"

"Fine."

She quickly ran off in the direction of the village leaders' house. As she left Boruto quickly turned back towards the ninja, he had been fighting. The ninja landed ten metres away from Naruto as he finished off his water dragon.

"Your pretty good kid, but not good enough."

"I'll be the judge of that." As he said that he felt a pang in his head. It looks like his clones had final tracked down the ninja that had been throwing those kunai from the foliage of the trees above them. Two of them had been defeated but the other two were currently trying to take him down.

"It seems like your buddy is having trouble with my clones," and as he said that, the enemy ninja fell out of the tree and landed on the ground his two shadow clones landing next to him. The ninja looked like he wasn't going to be getting up any time soon.

The ninja looked at his fallen comrade and then at Boruto. Boruto could tell that he was pissed. He charged at Boruto, but this time his whole body started to glow that eerie red colour. It almost looked like the enemy was on fire. And as he launched a punch and Boruto went to block it, as soon as he made contact with the ninja he felt his energy start to drain, just like it had with the kunai. But this time the effect was much stronger. Boruto leapt back, but he didn't do it quick enough and soon the ninja had landed another punch which sent him flying through the air. Boruto hit the ground hard. He was going to be feeling that one in the morning he thought to himself.

After hitting the ground he quickly got up and dodged the kick that was being aimed for his head. He then knew that he couldn't let this ninja touch him and dodged all of the punches and kicks that he aimed at him. Boruto then threw a few kunai at the ninja but he again dodged all of them.

"Water style raging tornado." A huge torrent of water soon traveled towards Boruto.

Boruto tried to dodge incoming attack, but soon felt sharp pain in his leg. He looked down and saw that the ninja has thrown a kunai into his leg. As he looked up it was too late the attack was already falling upon him. The attack hit him dead on and spun him around and around in the waves of water before throwing him into a tree. He felt his vision go black for a few seconds. And in those few seconds he felt two kunai get shot through both of his shoulders and pin his body to the tree. He again felt his chakra get sucked from his body.

"You should give up kid, this battle is all but over."

Boruto chuckled and the responded, "That's what you think."

And as he said that the ninja could hear a slight buzzing sound from behind him. And as he turned around, a huge ball of blue whirling chakra hit his body. One of Boruto's clones had created a rasengan while the ninja had been occupied by the real Boruto. The ninja was sent flying into to the forest, dust flying up as he flew crashed into a bunch of trees.

This battle was over and Boruto was the winner. As his vision started to fade to black, he could hear Sarada and mitsuki screaming his name as they ran into the courtyard. And that was the last thing he heard before he passed out.


	4. Chapter 4

Boruto awoke and found himself to be floating within a black empty void, black to the point that it seemed as if no light could ever be found within this space. Boruto looked around and to his astonishment and worry he found himself to be completely and utterly alone. Where was he? How did he get here? Those were a couple of the questions that floated through his mind. The last thing he remembered was fighting some uhhhhh what should he call them. Bad guys? Nah that seemed way too cheesy, not to mention super uncool. Let's just call them evil ninja guys for now… I guess. He chuckled to himself a little bit, like evil ninja guys was any better than bad guys, but it would have to work for now.

His eyes shot open, as he yelled out loud into the empty dark space "I'm not dead, am I?" As this thought graced his mind he felt chills roll down his spine. But as quickly as the thought had entered his mind it soon disappeared, replaced with the realization that he couldn't be dead, as he hadn't been seriously injured in his last fight. Therefore Boruto concluded that he must have been unconscious, which brought a whole new set of questions to the forefront of his mind. If he was unconscious, then was this black void that he was seemingly floating in all apart of some sick dream. No... it didn't seem like it was a dream, for he appeared to have complete control of his mind. So then…. what was this place?

His answer soon came to him as a figure suddenly appeared in his view a figure that seemed very much out of place. There floating before him was a man dressed in clothing that hadn't been seen nor worn in many centuries. All of the clothing that adorned this man's figure, were dyed a deep blood red, even the sandals that he was presently wearing. Boruto raised an eyebrow at this. Maybe red was his favorite color, Boruto thought to himself, as he was puzzled by the man's taste in dress. Boruto looked the man up and down continuing to apprise himself of this new guest. The man appeared to be in his late forties, early fifties, his age given away by the silvery gray hairs that were beginning to show in his long black hair. The man's face was also worn, his skin wrinkled and saggy, no longer holding its original shape, but even for his age this man seemed battle hardened, his onyx eyes set with a determination that made Boruto feel almost unsettled. They were eyes that he was all too familiar with, eyes that matched the cerulean blue eyes he saw only in passing, as of late. They may have been a different colour, but they held the exact same gleam as his Fathers. Boruto couldn't help himself as negative feelings began to well up inside him towards this unknown man.

"Who are you?" Boruto quarried, shocked at the presence of this new guest.

"It is impolite to ask somebody their name before yours has been given, boy," the man floating before him said in a deep voice that held much weight.

Boruto, caught off guard by this statement, quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, you're right. My name is…." Boruto quickly caught himself before he gave any information away. He couldn't believe he almost fell for one of the oldest tricks in the ninja hand book. He knew for sure that if Sarada and Mitsuki had been here they wouldn't have let him live that one down. Angry with himself, Boruto quickly snapped at the man, "Hey don't go pulling any tricks on me, Old-Man. I'm not giving you my name until you give me yours." He said pointing his finger accusingly at the man who was floating in front of him.

The man quietly laughed to himself, before lifting his hand out towards Boruto, "Fine you got me. My name is Ketsueki, but you can just call me Ketsu. Besides, you don't have to bother giving me your name as I already know who you are, Boruto," he said as he smiled at the young boy before him.

"Old man, how… how do you know my name?" Boruto said with fear in his voice as he pointed at the man.

"Don't look so frightened, my boy. I thought you were a ninja act like one," The man said sarcastically.

Boruto didn't take too kindly to that comment, as he folded up his arms and huffed, "I am not frightened… just..just unsettled is all."

"Suureeeeee," Ketsueki replied as he rolled his eyes. He then looked back at Boruto, his humorous air completely dissipating, "anyways I didn't bring you here just to exchange small talk, I have brought you here as I must give you some important information, information that might make or break your current mission."

Boruto's ears quickly perked up at the man's words. The man noticed this and quickly said, "Ah so now you are interested in what I have to say hmmmmmmm," sarcasm dripping from his every word.

At this Boruto rolled his eyes. This guy was seriously starting to get on his nerves. "Whatever old man could you just get on with it, what is that you want to tell me, I don't have all day here."

The man suddenly got serious. "Don't take this information lightly my boy. The mission that you are currently on could spell a lot of trouble for you and your friends if you don't heed the words I am about to speak. I suggest you listen carefully to what I am about to say," Ketsu said.

With this statement Boruto quickly felt a lump in his throat begin to grow, a lump that he soon swallowed.

"Listen carefully, the people you dealt with earlier are not ordinary ninja, they must not be taken lightly. You must have noticed earlier they were using weapons that could sap the chakra from your body. The reason for this strange phenomenon is because the weapons they are wielding are forged from the crimson red crystals that are found at the top of the mountain that towers above this tiny insignificant village. These crystals possess special properties within them, properties that give them the ability to suck the chakra out of a person's body. About five hundred years ago, the clan that I belonged to, like the ninja you just encountered, used these same crystals to create weapons for themselves. At first we created these weapons to protect ourselves from other ninja. But soon we began to realize that our weapons could be used for more than just protection. We realized that they could be used for much more selfish and greedy endeavors. We soon began to use these weapons to conquer surrounding areas, as they helped give us an advantage over other ninja. Unfortunately, our path soon became stained with the blood of the brave souls that fell at our hands. Hundreds of people perished before our mighty weapons, as there was no mercy given to those that fought against us. For years our clan reigned over the many lands that surrounded us, and any rebellion by the people we ruled over was quickly squashed. We were ruthless and uncaring, only worried for ourselves never for others. Of course, our greed would soon become our downfall." As the man spoke this last sentence he sadly looked down towards his feet. He then looked back up as tears began to well up in his eyes. "A couple of ninja clans banded together, hell bent on destroying our clan for all the evil we had perpetrated upon the world. One night under the cover of darkness ninja numbering in the hundreds descended upon our village and slaughtered any and all who called themselves a "Blood". I, myself being the leader of this clan, too perished in this massacre." At this the man once again paused, as he looked off into the distance peering into memories that could haunt even the most hardened souls.

Boruto inhaled sharply. This information was a lot to take in mentally. Of all the things that Boruto had learned about in his history class, a lesson on Crystal-Using-Psychopath's never popped up. Maybe that was a little insensitive of him to say, but if what this man was saying was true, then he and his clan had killed many innocent lives and all for their own selfish gain. Boruto couldn't help but harbour some ill will towards this man.

"Why are you telling me all of this," Boruto asked the man as he stared at him with cold eyes.

The man looked back at Boruto with a sad regretful look and then responded, "I am telling you all of this, so as to give you some context. I want you to understand how powerful the weapons those ninja are using are. This isn't some ordinary mission that you and your team have embarked on. This mission if not fought carefully could change this world drastically, and not for the better." He took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what was going to be said next. "Because of the evil deeds I perpetrated before my death, my soul was cursed to walk the grounds around us. I was not allowed to move on into the afterlife; I was not allowed to find peace. Because of this I have had a lot of time to reflect upon the actions I committed and I have learned to see the error of my ways. That is why I am visiting you now, as I am hoping you will be able to save the village elder and his people, as I have grown quite fond of their presence." Ketsu stared at Boruto as he uttered his next words, "Boruto I must tell you that these ninja are planning to create a super weapon with the chakra that they have been absorbing from the people. Within the next week there plans will come to completion and they will unleash this super weapon upon this world. Therefore it is pertinent that when waking you convince your team to travel up the mountain and face these men before they can bring there plan to fruition. Do you understand." Ketsu asked staring at Boruto as if willing him to ask any questions that were on his mind.

Boruto looked back at the man with a somewhat vacant look as he was currently trying to absorb and process all of the information that had just be given to him. After a couple moments Boruto then looked up and asked aloud, "Do you know who these men are?" Right as Ketsu was about to utter his response, his image began to fade, and as the black void began to disappear around him, the last words that Boruto heard were "Good luck Boruto, may the gods be with you."


	5. Chapter 5

Boruto slowly opened up his eyes, groggily waking up from the strange conversation that he had just conducted with what he assumed to be a spirit. Although could whatever had just occurred even be classified as a conversation, for he hadn't even done a majority of the talking, and of course said conversation hadn't even occurred within reality, but within the recesses of his mind. As he pondered this, he quickly looked around and realized that he was back in the village elder's hut laying on a soft wool blanket. He wondered how long he had been out for. To him it hadn't even felt like he had been unconscious for even an hour, because much of his time was taken up by a weird samurai ghost giving him what he called valuable information while he was unconscious. Wow had his life gotten interesting. As he started to get his bearings he realized that there was a pair jet black eye's watching him from the corner of the room.

Sitting in a wooden chair over in the right corner of the room was Sarada. She sat there staring at Boruto with one hand propped up against her cheek, her elbow resting on her leg. The whole time Boruto had been unconscious, she felt this overwhelming need to look after him. She wanted to ensure that he was okay and she hoped that he would rouse from his slumber quickly. As Boruto had begun to awake she moved from her chair and quickly came to his side.

"Boruto, your awake, how are you feeling," Sarada spoke as Boruto started to rise from where he was laying.

Honestly he felt a little worn out, most likely from his previous battle and also from getting his chakra drained, but physically he felt fine. Boruto put his hand behind his head, a little embarrassed at how worried Sarada was. "I feel fine, exhausted, but otherwise fine." he responded.

Sarada looked back at him questioningly as if she almost didn't believe him, but then a look of relief fell upon her face. "Thank goodness, we were really worried about you," she spoke softly as she looked down at her hands, " you were out for a good three hours."

Surprised at hearing this Boruto quickly exclaimed "I was out for that long! Really!? Weird, it didn't feel that long."

She looked back up at him quickly, puzzled by his outburst. "Yes… I was here watching over you the whole time. Whyyyy?" Sarada said with suspicion in her voice.

Dammit! Boruto thought, she knows something is off. He swore that that darned sharingan of hers did more than just improve her vision. How is it that she could read me so well? Damn. Ugghhhh now what do I do. I have two options Boruto quickly thought. The first option is I tell her about Ketsu, the spirit I spoke with while unconscious. The second option is I keep that conversation a secret, and somehow find a way to convince her and the rest of my team to trust me and my so-called gut, and get them to travel up the mountain with me and square off against the Evil Ninja Guys…. god I have got to figure out a better name for those guys. He weighed out these two options carefully. If he went with option two he had the feeling Sarada would most likely figure out that he was hiding something and find a way to pry the truth out of him anyways. Eeeeeee I might as well just tell her the truth. I wonder how she will take it. I mean most people would call a person crazy if they said they made contact with the dead while they were sleeping. Either Sarada would believe him, or he would forever be known as the guy "who talks to dead people". Again, what has his life become. He got the feeling this mission was going to make him grow even more cynical than he already had become. Wow, he was starting to become jaded right at the young age of twelve. He really didn't want to imagine what he was going to be like when he was fifty. An image of Granny Tsunade popped up in his mind. Bleh, let's hope that's not how I end up, he thought to himself shaking the image from his mind.

Boruto took a deep breath and then looked Sarada dead in the face. "Okay," he paused questioning if he should continue, "I have something important to tell you," Boruto spoke in all seriousness. He then looked around to ensure that only Sarada was going to hear what he was about to tell her as he was unsure how the others might react to this information. Sarada herself looked puzzled, wondering about what Boruto was going to tell her. She hoped the last fight hadn't addled his brain. Boruto, after ensuring that it was only her and him in the room continued. "While I was unconscious….. I was visited… well I was visited by a spirit who gave me really important information that will help us in our mission." Boruto spoke quickly, anxious about the response he might receive.

Sarada sat there for a few seconds a look of disbelief beginning to form on her face. Did he just say what I think he just said, she thought to herself. A spirit! A spirit contacted him. Last time she checked Boruto wasn't some crazy quack that could speak to the dead. This was definitely not what Sarada expected to come out of Boruto's mouth. But for some reason Sarada felt that he might be telling the truth. I mean why would he lie about something like this, and if he was going to lie, why would he come up with a story such as this one. Maybe he was being honest. Dear lord, this mission was starting to turn into all kinds of crazy.

Boruto noticed that Sarada looked as if she was seriously questioning what he just said, which to Boruto was a good sign as it meant she was taking him seriously. It didn't mean she was going to believe him, but she wasn't quite ready to discredit him. "Sooo… what you are trying to say is that while you were unconscious a spirit of the dead invaded your subconscious and gave you some important information." Sarada quarried.

"Yes."

Sarada sighed bringing her hand up to her forehead, completely shocked by what she was hearing. "You never cease to amaze or should I say shock, do you?"

At this Boruto sheepishly responded, "I guess it's in my blood."

Sarada silently chuckled, then got serious. "Okay let's say I believe you," Sarada said slowly, "I want to hear about what this spirit had to say to you."

Boruto blinked a couple times shocked that Sarada was beginning to believe that he was speaking the truth. I guess Sarada had more trust in him than he thought. Huh, she's pretty cool he thought.

Sarada cleared her throat indicating that he should continue where he left off. At this gesture Boruto began telling Sarada what Ketsu had relayed to him. "The spirit… well Ketsu, that was his name, explained to me that the ninja we were fighting earlier were using specialised weapons that could drain our chakra, and that these weapons had been forged using crystals at the top of the mountain above us. He also told me that these ninja were going to use these crystals to create a Super weapon that in a week's time they would unleash upon the world." Boruto decided to omit the part about Ketsu's history as he felt that Sarada may begin to doubt the words of the spirit if she knew of his dark past.

Sarada sat back after hearing what Boruto had to say. She had already figured that the weapons the ninja used could drain chakra that was the obvious part. But she couldn't have guessed that the enemy ninja were going to reengineer this technology and turn it into god forbid a superweapon. A super weapon eh? I wonder what exactly this weapon could look like. She thought this would be a great question to ask Boruto, the newly named psychic.

"Did the spirit Ketsu tell you what this superweapon could do and what it would look like?" she asked hoping that he could give her some answers. Unfortunately by the look he gave her she knew he could not.

"Hehe, well unfortunately I woke up before the spirit could give me any more information." Boruto replied dejectedly.

Sarada slumped over, "Of course you would say that."

"Sorry," Boruto whispered.

"It's not your fault. Luckily, we now know why the enemy ninja have been attacking the villagers and draining their chakra. Obviously they must be using their chakra to power there weapon. We have got to tell Sensei," Sarada said as she moved to get up from where she was sitting. All of a sudden though she felt a tug on her arm, and realized that Boruto had grabbed her.

"You dobe, why are you grabbing me." Sarada snapped.

Boruto looked at her worriedly, "Do you think Sensei would believe what we told him. I mean it does sound pretty farfetched the whole a spirit visited me blah-blah."

She too held some doubt within her heart as well, but she hoped that Sensei had enough faith in them that he would believe them. Plus what Boruto said seemed to make sense. It was just one of the many puzzle pieces they needed to complete their crazy puzzle.

"I don't really know if he will believe us but we have got to try. Plus Konohamaru Sensei is interrogating one of the enemy ninja right now, so maybe he found out the same information that we did." As she said this she could see that Boruto's worry turned into relief.

"Yeah, your right! Okay let's go see him." Boruto said with a determined smile. He too got up from his place and ran with Sarada to where Big Bro Konohamaru was with he was assuming Mitsuki as he hadn't seen him since the battle.

Both Hidden leaf ninja were out of the village elders hut and heading towards the center of town. Sarada explained to Boruto that one of the evil ninja bad guys had been captured and was currently being held in one of the buildings in the center of town. They did not have a jail here as the town was too small to need one so they were using a local shop as a makeshift jail for now. Apparently the prisoner had just awoken only minutes before Boruto had, and so Big Bro Konohamaru and Mitsuki had headed over to where he was to start conducting questioning.

As they headed in the direction of the building, Boruto began to ponder their situation. This mission was beginning to become crazier by the minute. Boruto was starting to question if they could actually pull this mission off. Ketsu's words were starting to wear on him. What if what he said was true, that this mission could mean life or death. He looked at Sarada who was running by his side. He couldn't imagine losing her or any of his other teammates. He swallowed the lump that was beginning to form in his throat. He was starting to realize that he was going to have to surpass his own limits, not only to protect himself but also to protect the people he cared about.

Sarada herself was also thinking along the same lines. This mission was nothing like the ones they had completed before. Every move they were going to make in the future was going to have to be thought out carefully, one wrong move could easily spell death.

There thoughts kept their minds occupied, and soon before they could realize it they were standing in front of the building. From Boruto's point of view the building was a sort of convenience store as all the shelves inside housed various items ranging from candy bars to household cleaners. It wasn't a big building but it was probably one of the biggest buildings to be found in this small village. It was a simple building constructed out of more rustic materials. It kind of reminded him of the buildings he would see in the old district back home. Home. He had only been gone for a day now, but this mission was already making him miss that crowded village.

Standing outside the door were two bulky men, whom Boruto assumed were villagers that had decided to stand guard over the prisoner. They looked capable enough.

Boruto strode up to them with Sarada. "Hey guys, is it possible to let us in. We have some important information we need to give our sensei, information about our current mission."

The two men looked at each other, seemingly having their own silent conversation. After nodding their heads they then moved aside, indicating that they could enter.

Boruto puzzled by their strange behaviour just waved at them before opening the door. "Thanks, Guys."

"Yeah thanks," Sarada agreed.

The two men just nodded as they both strode into the building.

"They don't get out much I guess," Boruto shrugged.

At this Sarada lightly chuckled before shushing him. "Shhhhh… they might hear you."

"Nah, you worry too much, I'm sure they didn't hear…" Boruto stopped what he was saying as he could see out of the corner of his eye the two men staring intently at Boruto. "Hehe on the other hand let's go find Big Bro Konohamaru quickly." With those words he quickly grabbed Sarada's hand and started leading her to where he assumed he would be, in the stock room.

What Boruto saw next was forever going to haunt him. As they arrived at the stockroom, there lying in there chair was what could only be described as a shriveled up human in a black ninja gi. It was clear that every ounce of this man's chakra had been sucked from his body.

Sarada and Boruto both jumped back in horror, shocked at what they saw before them.

Standing in front of the corpse was Konohamaru sensei and Mitsuki.

Konohamaru sighed as he turned towards the two with a look of dread "Hey guys, I've got some bad news."


	6. Chapter 6

Konohamaru sensei stared down at the corpse before him, still in disbelief at what had just occurred. Not even a minute ago the guy sitting in front of him had been alive and full of life, now he was what you could call a human raisin. It had happened so quickly too, one second the guy was perfectly fine and healthy, the next he was writhing in his chair as all of his chakra was being zapped from his body. All of that had happened within a minute's time. The big question was how? How had it happened? Interestingly enough, it all began when he had started to ask the enemy ninja prying questions. It was soon after he had begun the interrogation process, that the enemy ninja was sucked dry of all his life. This situation seemed oddly familiar to him. It was reminiscent of how some ninja would sacrifice themselves when they were caught by their enemy and were undergoing interrogation. Instead of giving up vital information they would bite down on a cyanide pill lodged in their teeth and kill themselves before they could betray their allies. Maybe he had possibly done something similar. Konohamaru shrugged his shoulders at the possibility, but then how had he accomplished it. Maybe he used a device to trigger this strange and frankly terrifying phenomenon. If so, how did this device function and how was it triggered. I guess he was going to have to unfortunately figure that out.

Konohamaru with a grimace, grabbed a pair of surgical gloves out of his back pocket and put them on. There was only one way to find out, he was going to have to - gag- search the body.

"What are you going to do?" Mitsuki asked plainly, as if he was not fazed at all by what had occurred.

Konohamaru looked back at Mitsuki before replying simply, "I'm going to try and figure out what exactly caused this ninja to die so suddenly. If I am correct, most likely this man had a device concealed on him somewhere that he used to kill himself before he could give away any valuable information."

"I think you are probably right, Sensei," Mitsuki agreed, as he had too thought that this is what had occurred. "Will you be needing any help?" Mitsuki asked.

Konohamaru, a little surprised by this question, accidently dropped one of the gloves he was putting on. Most young Genin would have been shocked by what they had just seen, but in true Mitsuki fashion he didn't even seem fazed by the situation. Not only that but he was willing to help investigate the corpse. Even some experienced Jonin would have a problem completing such a task, but Mitsuki seemed to not even falter at the thought of it. What was this kid made of? Definitely no sugar and maybe not even a lot of spice, as he generally lacked the ability to express normal emotion. He truly was an anomaly, Konohamaru thought, as he quickly picked up his glove that had fallen, and put it on.

"Ughhhh, No, no, no it's fine. I can handle it myself for now, kore. But you can watch if you want."

Mitsuki looked back at Konohamaru with his famous _I'm dead on the inside look_ and nodded his head before saying plainly, "Whatever you say, Sensei."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Konohamaru turned back towards the corpse, not letting on the fact that Mitsuki still left him quite confused at times. Sometimes he just wasn't quite sure how to respond to him, and this was definitely one of those times.

Taking a deep breath Konohamaru began inspecting the corpse to see if he could find any traces of a device that could have killed this ninja. He first started off by checking inside the man's mouth to see if there had been anything implanted in his teeth. He searched every single tooth to see if he could find anything strange, but besides a few cavities everything was found to be normal. I guess they must have thought the old pill underneath the teeth trick, was outdated, which was too bad because he honestly was kind of hoping those old rumours he had heard were true.

"Dang," Konohamaru whispered under his breath.

"What?" Mitsuki asked.

Konohamaru looked back at Mitsuki frustrated, "I was hoping I'd find something inside his mouth as I've heard of similar things happening before, but no luck there."

Mitsuki pondered this over in his head before replying back, "Why don't you check his hands next. I've heard of people putting chips inside human bodies. Maybe something could have been hidden underneath… maybe his fingernail."

That was a really good idea Konohamaru thought. "Sure, I'll look there next," he said while snapping his fingers.

Konohamaru bent down and began to inspect the corpse's hands. At first everything seemed normal, but upon closer inspection he noticed something strange. There underneath one of the nail beds on his left hand seemed to be what looked like a metallic piece. Konohamaru motioned for Mitsuki to come closer.

"Look at this Mitsuki," Konohamaru whispered motioning for Mitsuki to come closer, "it looks like you were right, there is something imbedded underneath his fingernail," Mitsuki came closer to inspect the nail, narrowing his eyes to get a better look. He nodded his head showing that he saw the same thing as his sensei.

"Perfect," Mitsuki replied, showing off what little pride he could have.

"By the way, where did you hear about chips being hidden in people's body?" Konohamaru asked, intrigued as to how his student knew this little tidbit of information.

"My parent told me about it," Mitsuki replied back as if it was a well known fact.

"Righttttt," Konohamaru said aloud, creeped out by his reply. Finding out about Mitsuki's 'parent' was definitely something he was going to have to add to his to do list when he got back to Konoha. Which was another thing, what was up with the whole one parent thing. Most people even if they had only one parent would either say mom or dad, but not Mitsuki. No, no it was always one 'parent' with him. What was up with that? Konohamaru thought. Maybe that was another thing he should investigate, the question is, what would he find out, I mean after all truth could be stranger than fiction.

Shaking his head of those thoughts and getting back to the situation at hand, Konohamaru dug into his pouch to grab out some tweezers, to help him safely retrieve the metallic device, without contaminating it. Since the body was completely sucked dry, he easily pulled off the corpses nail and retrieved the device from his nail bed and upon closer inspection he noticed that there was something red imbedded in the metallic piece.

"I wonder what that could be." Konohamaru whispered to himself.

Before he could figure that out he heard footsteps coming towards their room. He had a feeling those loud footsteps could only belong to one person and that was his enthusiastic student Boruto Uzumaki, and just as this thought had crossed his mind, he saw that famous blonde hair appear in the doorway. And right behind him appeared his other student, Sarada. As soon as they saw the body, their faces immediately filled with horror. Honestly, he couldn't blame them, this scene would have shocked anybody.

Konohamaru was both happy and sad to see them. Happy that his student was awake and looking well, sad that they had to lay their eyes upon such a terrifying scene. "Boruto I'm glad to see your awake." Konohamaru said with a sad smile. He then looked towards the body, "Unfortunately, I have some bad news." he said seriously.

Boruto lifted up his finger shakily towards the dead man, "Wha..wha..what happened to him sensei?"

Konohamaru replied with no fear in his voice, "His chakra was completely drained from his body. And most likely it was due to this tiny device we found underneath his fingernail."

Boruto and Sarada slowly walked towards Konohamaru, completely avoiding the newly dead man as if it were going to come back to life and eat them, intent on looking at what he had found. As they laid eyes upon the piece, they both instantly noticed the red crystal lodged in its center. After taking notice of this characteristic they turned towards one another and shared a quiet conversation. They knew exactly where that crystal had come from, and what it was capable of; this was a perfect opportunity for them to tell Konohamaru and Mitsuki about what they had found out. They both looked each other in the eyes determined to convince their allies of the truth. They both nodded towards one another before turning back towards their allies, brimming with determination.

"We have something to tell you sensei," they both said at the same time.

Konohamaru a little creeped out by their synchronization anxiously chuckled to himself, "You do eh?"

They both nodded confidently in unison.

"Alright what is going on," Konohamaru asked bewildered as to what could top the current situation they were in.

"Okay this might sound completely insane to you… but I found out some extremely important information….. and it was given to me by a spirit of the dead." Boruto said unsure as to how his sensei was going to react.

Konohamaru paused for a second processing the words that just left Boruto's mouth. Did he just hear him right. Did he just say a spirit of the dead. Konohamaru was extremely confused by what he had just heard. At first he was happy because any information that they found out was good information, but his elation quickly changed to confusion when he heard who the information had come from.

"When you say spirit of the dead, you are trying to say that you talked to a LITERAL GHOST?" he asked in complete disbelief.

They both nodded once again.

At this, Konohamaru became quite upset, as wasn't quite sure what he should believe. Apart of him was upset and angry that his students would say such nonsensical things in such a serious situation. I mean for crying out loud there was a dried up corpse sitting right in the middle of the room; who would think it's okay to say such silly things in such a tenuous situation. And then another part of him was telling him that his students might be telling him the truth, as both Boruto and Sarada seemed quite serious. It looked as if they weren't trying to play any games. But if that were to be true then that would have to mean that ghosts were real, which was something Konohamaru couldn't really wrap his head around as he hadn't believed in ghosts since he was a child. Ugh what was he to do! He looked back at Mitsuki hoping he was feeling the same way he did, conflicted, but instead Mitsuki was just standing there with an empty smile on his face. Right what was he expecting to get out of Mitsuki. Of course he should have already known that Mitsuki wasn't going to react the same way he did, plus he implicitly trusted Boruto, so he probably believed every word he said. Konohamaru turned back to face his two students, still very much in doubt at what he had heard.

Seeing that Konohamaru was rather upset by what he had just heard, Sarada spoke up, "I understand that this might be extremely hard to believe… I myself am still carrying some doubt", as she said this Boruto gawked at her, his expression saying 'hey come on I thought you trusted me. She looked back it him with steady eyes, before continuing on, "But when you hear what Boruto has to say, everything that has happened up until now starts to make sense. This chip helps to prove it." She then got a wry smile on her face before adding one last remark, "Plus he's too stupid to come up with a story this intelligent."

"Heyyyyyyyy, that is so not true," Boruto wined, while stomping his foot on the ground and folding up his arms in a puff, going into full on pout mode, a trait he had definitely inherited from his father.

Completely ignoring Boruto's tantrum, Konohamaru looked down at his shoes still very much in disbelief. He found himself thinking along the same lines as everybody else 'where had this mission gone kore'. If it had just been Boruto telling him this he might have just dismissed the whole thing, but since Sarada, a girl that was honest to a fault, very much believed that what Boruto knew made sense than he felt he should hear him out. He looked back up at Boruto and folded his arms, "Alright, tell me everything you know."

Boruto relieved that his sensei was giving him a chance explained to him everything that Ketsu had told him about the evil ninja bad guys, of course he once again withheld the information about Ketsu. As Boruto was telling Konohamaru everything he began to see the disbelief disappearing from his face.

Both Konohamaru and Mitsuki looked as if they were slowly connecting the dots in their heads.

"So that's why the core of this chip is filled with a red stone and that's how all his chakra was depleted kore!" Konohamaru exclaimed. Finally everything was beginning to make sense to him. This was great, now he at least had an idea on what their next move should be.

He looked at all of his students and they looked back their eyes brimming with determination, all of them demonstrating their willingness to move forward. He knew that there was no turning back now. No matter how dangerous this mission was going to get from here on out, they were all ready to see it through. He could see it in their eyes. Those looks of theirs helped to light a fire up inside himself. He knew he had to be just as, if not more willing and determined, as his teammates to help them see this mission through. He was their leader and so he needed to be a strong leader to help assure them of a sure fire victory. Therefore they needed to come up with a plan to combat their current predicament.

"Okay guys, I think it's time we formulate a battle plan, buttttttt maybe we should do it somewhere more decent." Konohamaru expressed, as he looked in the direction of the body.

"Sounds good to me," Boruto exclaimed.

"Me too."

"Same," Sarada agreed.

"What are you going to do with the body?" Mitsuki pondered.

To this Konohamaru explained that he was going to get the villagers to 'take care' of it for him. "They won't bury it just yet though as I'm thinking about sending it to Konoha for a full body autopsy, to see if it holds any secrets."

"Secrets?" Boruto quarried.

"Well as this ninja comes from an unknown group that uses unknown weapons, there is the chance that his body could be holding important information that wasn't visible to us, information that could benefit the village in the future."

"Ohhhhh okay gotcha Big Bro," Boruto said. He didn't continue further as talking about the dead made him feel uncomfortable, especially when they were still in the presence of the body.

"Anyways, let's make a quick change of scenery," said Konohamaru as he motioned for them to leave the room and gather in the centre of the shop. All four of them quickly left the room and headed towards the most open area of the store, which happened to be right near the stores counter. The smell of the chocolate bars sitting on the counter wafted into everybody's noses, tempting them, calling to them. Unfortunately though this wasn't a time to indulge themselves, so their cravings would have to be put on hold. After resisting their urges they all sat down on the black mat that was placed in front of the counter, it's hard carpet poking into their bottoms. After getting as comfortable as they could Konohamaru spoke up.

"Okay guys, I think it's pretty obvious what our next move should be"

Boruto interjected, "travel up the mountain and stake out the enemies base before deciding what our plan of attack is."

Konohamaru surprised by his sudden interruption nodded in confirmation, "Exactly," he replied. "I think it would be best to do exactly that, and do it tonight, as time is of the essence. But I want you guys to remember that these ninja already know that we are here, so they might be expecting us, therefore you must be extremely careful when executing this plan, as we do not want to be discovered. Do you understand."

All of them nodded in agreement.

"Perfect. I also think it would be best to send the information that we have found out back to Konoha as this mission does not only just affect this small village anymore, it also affects everyone in the fire nation. It would be good to keep them informed, as they might be able to send us some well suited back up."

"Does that mean that we will have to wait for a response back from them then?" Sarada quarried.

"No, we will continue as planned. As I said time is of the essence so we couldn't possibly wait for a response back from the village, that decision could lead to even bigger problems. Do you guys understand kore?"

"Yes," they all chorused back.

"Good," said Konohamaru with a smile. He then cleared his throat before continuing. "So before we proceed I think it would be good to go over what we should be looking for, when staking out the enemies location."

As he said this they all began talking at the same time. Konohamaru held up his hand, signalling for them to be quiet. "One at a time, one at a time."

They all stopped talking and stared at one another just daring each other to speak first. Finally Boruto spoke up.

"To me, the most important thing would be to first of all find out how many enemies we are dealing with, and second figure out what the superweapon they are building looks like and how it functions. Once we figure those out we can then formulate our attack plan."

"Good job Boruto," praised Konohamaru, "do you guys have anything else to add," he asked looking at the others.

"We should also pay close attention to the terrain as we are not familiar with this area. And I think it would be best to figure out how large of an area their base covers, to better understand where we should start our attack and where it should be finished, as well as how spread out our enemy is." Sarada blurted out.

"Exactly, alright does anybody else have any other input to add," Konohamaru asked looking in Mitsuki's direction. Mitsuki just stared back.

"Alright, we will start heading up the mountain once night falls. Everyone go and get ready, this is gonna be a tough battle."


End file.
